1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to accessing information and more particularly to utilizing the Internet to receive targeted information through mobile information terminals.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Roadside advertisement, whether it be billboards or elaborate storefronts, is an important tool through which merchants and service providers let the public know about their products. As a potential customer drives past in their automobile, they see the advertisement, and become aware that the product exists, or are reminded of it. The major drawback of roadside advertisement is that there is little or no opportunity for the customer to follow up if they are interested. The information that can be provided is limited, and there are few channels available to provide the customer with more information. In the case of a billboard, there is no opportunity, other than an active effort by the customer. In the case of a store front, the customer might stop at the store, but probably not if he is en route elsewhere or only has a passing interest in the product. Even if the customer is likely to stop, the merchant needs some way to differentiate his product from that of the competitors' product, or risk the customer stopping elsewhere instead.
Some very large organizations have used short-range radio broadcasts to send additional information to customers. Such systems allow a much larger amount of information to be transferred, but they have several restrictions which limit their use. First, they are expensive. Second, they require that the customer spend a large amount of time within the broadcast range in order to hear the information. In practice, this means that only organizations occupying geographically large areas can make use of them. Even when satisfying these constraints, such systems still lack the interactivity necessary to deliver custom information which can attract a customer.
The advent of automobile based Internet browsers in the next few years will give a new opportunity for merchants to make use of roadside advertisements. Billboards and storefronts can be equipped with short-range data transmitters which broadcast very short transmissions to passing automobiles. Rather than carrying lengthy product information, these transmissions can carry short Internet Uniform Resource Locator codes (URLs). Once the automobile receives a URL, a driver with an Internet browser can choose to "follow" it, and access the World Wide Web document to which it points, or the driver can choose to ignore the URL. The resulting document, and others which it links to, can contain an arbitrary amount of information about any topic the vendor chooses, and can include interactivity to help the customer get the most relevant customized information for their interest.